In Wildest Africa, Vol. 1Schillings, C. G. (Carl Georg)
History
In Wildest Africa, Vol. 1
Schillings, C. G. (Carl Georg)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Hunting -- Africa; Natural history -- Africa; Nature photography
Overwhelming in its vastness, its rich variety of colour, form, and
movement is the picture of animal life thus displayed.
Moving along the hollows of the plateau hour after hour, looking out
from its ridges, now with the field-glass, now with unaided sight,
I find the whole grassy expanse covered with these wild creatures.
Hundreds and hundreds more of zebras alternate with larger or smaller
herds of Grant’s gazelles. Near them, but keeping apart, and all around
them the dwarf gazelles are swarming. Here and there one sees the
proudly uplifted head of a stately waterbuck, adorned with splendid
branching horns, and not far off his hornless doe, both of them in
form and action greatly reminding one of the stag, of our northern
lands. Occasionally the eye catches sight of splendid black-plumed
cock ostriches here and there on the plateau. They watch the traveller
carefully, and are accompanied by their mates, which are very much more
difficult for the eye to make out owing to their plain grey plumage. On
all sides there are whole herds of brown hartebeests grazing, resting,
or making for some more distant spot with their characteristic long
striding gallop. And now one suddenly comes upon a herd of giant eland
antelopes, brownish yellow, and adorned with white cross-stripes.
Conscious of their mighty strength, there is not much shyness about
them; but they know not the danger they run from the long-range weapon
of the European.
Think of all this animal life, bathed in the fulness of the tropical
sunlight! All depths and shades of colour play before our eyes.
Strongly cast shadows, ever changing with the position of the sun,
alter again and again the whole appearance of this world of life, and
from minute to minute it presents new riddles to any one who has not
had years of experience in the wilderness. When the glittering light
of the midday hours is tiring and confusing the sight, one often can
hardly tell for certain whether it be a living multitude stretching
out in the distance before one, or whether the play of the sunlight is
imparting a semblance of life to scattered clumps of thorn bushes.
Four rhinoceroses which I now descry moving across the plain in the
distance, and a flock of ostriches which I can plainly make out
with the field-glass, change shape and colour so often that it is
astonishing to see them. According to their movements and position with
respect to the sun they appear to be of a blending blue and grey, or
intensely black, and then again almost invisible and the colour of the
earth, but always changing, always different from what they were the
moment before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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